Investigative Journalism 4219-SH0055
Investigative journalism begins with suspicion, curiosity or contradiction: something does not fit the official account. The journalist's task is then to establish what can actually be demonstrated.
The course introduces students to the complete investigative process, from the first hypothesis to publication. Students will learn how to formulate an investigative question, identify relevant sources, search public records and open-source material, prepare and conduct interviews, verify conflicting claims, construct timelines, assess documentary evidence and distinguish between information, inference and proof.
The course will also examine the institutional environment in which investigative journalism operates. Topics include freedom of expression, defamation, privacy, protection of sources, political and corporate pressure, strategic lawsuits, leaks, whistleblowers and journalistic ethics.
A second strand examines the relationship between journalism and power. Investigations frequently begin with an existing narrative: a government explanation, corporate statement, ideological assumption or widely accepted media frame. Journalists themselves are not outside these narratives. The course therefore introduces concepts including framing, ideology, confirmation bias and Lacanian “misrecognition” as tools for examining how journalists may see what they expect or desire to see.
Students will consider how digital technologies have transformed investigation. Social media, online databases, satellite images, leaked datasets and open-source intelligence have dramatically expanded access to information, while AI-generated content, deepfakes, algorithmic amplification and disinformation have made verification increasingly difficult.
Classes will combine discussion of readings and case studies with practical workshops. Students will develop an individual or small-group investigative project, presenting their research process during the semester and producing a final investigative essay or report.
The aim is not merely to teach students how to uncover hidden information, but how to think critically about evidence, uncertainty, power and their own role in constructing a public narrative.
Course objectives
The course aims to:
Introduce the principal methods of investigative journalism.
Develop students' ability to identify and formulate viable investigative questions.
Teach techniques for sourcing, interviewing, documentary research and verification.
Develop critical understanding of legal and ethical constraints on investigative reporting.
Examine relationships between journalism, political power, institutions and public narratives.
Develop awareness of framing, ideology, confirmation bias and misrecognition in journalistic work.
Introduce digital investigation, open-source research and verification techniques.
Develop students' ability to transform complex evidence into clear and compelling journalistic narratives.
Encourage independent judgment, intellectual curiosity and ethical responsibility.
Enable students to design and produce their own investigative project.
Teaching methods
The course combines:
seminar discussion;
analysis of published investigations;
practical reporting workshops;
source and document analysis;
interview exercises;
verification exercises;
student presentations;
individual investigative research;
discussion of legal and ethical case studies.
Teaching will be strongly interactive and based on practical examples from contemporary journalism.
Week 1 — What is investigative journalism?
What makes journalism “investigative”? Investigation versus ordinary reporting. The watchdog tradition. Public interest. Famous investigations and their consequences.
Workshop: identifying potentially investigative stories.
Week 2 — Finding the question
From suspicion to hypothesis. Anomalies, contradictions and unexplained patterns. Developing a question that can actually be investigated.
The danger of deciding the answer before beginning the investigation.
Workshop: turning broad topics into workable investigative questions.
Week 3 — Sources: people, institutions and motives
Types of sources. Primary and secondary sources. Official and unofficial sources. Anonymous sources. Building trust. Understanding motivation.
Who benefits from telling you this?
Workshop: source mapping.
Week 4 — The investigative interview
Preparing interviews. Open and closed questions. Listening. Silence. Challenging a source. Interviewing hostile or evasive subjects.
Difference between obtaining a quotation and obtaining information.
Workshop: simulated investigative interviews.
Week 5 — Documents and the paper trail
Official records, court documents, company records, budgets, procurement, reports, archives and freedom-of-information requests.
Reading documents against the grain.
Workshop: reconstructing a story from documents.
Week 6 — Verification: what do we actually know?
Triangulation. Corroboration. Chronologies. Fact versus allegation. Primary evidence versus hearsay.
Verification in an environment of manipulated images, AI-generated material and social-media claims.
Workshop: verification exercise.
Week 7 — Digital investigation and open sources
Search strategies, social-media research, archived webpages, metadata, geolocation, public databases and introductory OSINT.
Opportunities and ethical limits of digital investigation.
Week 8 — Power, ideology and the official story
Governments, corporations and institutions as producers of narratives.
Framing, agenda-setting and ideology.
Who has the power to define what the story is about?
Case studies from political and corporate journalism.
Week 9 — Misrecognition: when journalists find what they expected to find
Confirmation bias, groupthink and narrative seduction.
Introduction to Lacanian misrecognition as a way of thinking about the gap between reality and the story through which reality is interpreted.
What happens when the evidence destroys the journalist's hypothesis?
Workshop: constructing alternative hypotheses from the same evidence.
Week 10 — Law, risk and responsibility
Defamation, privacy, confidentiality, source protection, copyright and public interest.
Legal threats and SLAPPs.
The distinction between what a journalist believes and what a journalist can responsibly publish.
Week 11 — Ethics, leaks and whistleblowers
Leaks, hacked material and confidential documents.
Protecting sources.
When does the public interest justify intrusion?
What does a journalist owe a vulnerable or compromised source?
Case studies.
Week 12 — Politics, polarisation and investigative journalism
Investigative journalism in politically polarised societies.
Partisan media and activist journalism.
How can journalists investigate institutions or political actors without becoming instruments of another political camp?
Examples from Poland, the United States and other media systems.
Week 13 — Writing the investigation
From evidence to narrative.
Chronology versus thematic structure. Character, scene and explanation. Long-form journalism.
How to make complicated material readable without simplifying it dishonestly.
Workshop: structure and opening paragraphs.
Week 14 — Student investigations
Students present their developing investigations.
Peer criticism focusing on:
evidence;
missing sources;
alternative hypotheses;
legal risk;
narrative structure.
Week 15 — What can journalism actually know?
Final discussion.
Truth, evidence and uncertainty.
Investigative journalism and democratic accountability.
What happens when an investigation fails?
Can journalists acknowledge uncertainty without weakening a story?
Final project consultation.
Course coordinators
Type of course
Mode
Learning outcomes
Knowledge
After completing the course, the student:
Understands the principal methods and stages of an investigative journalism project.
Understands the role of sources, documents, databases, interviews and open-source information in investigative reporting.
Has knowledge of key legal and ethical issues affecting journalists, including defamation, privacy, source protection and the public interest.
Understands how political, corporate and institutional power can influence information and media narratives.
Understands concepts including framing, ideology, confirmation bias and misrecognition and their relevance to journalism.
Understands the opportunities and risks created by digital media, social platforms, AI and contemporary information technologies.
Skills
After completing the course, the student:
Can formulate an investigative question and develop a realistic research plan.
Can identify, assess and cultivate appropriate sources.
Can conduct and critically evaluate journalistic interviews.
Can locate and analyse documentary and open-source material.
Can distinguish between verified facts, allegations, inference and speculation.
Can cross-check information from multiple sources.
Can evaluate the credibility, motivation and limitations of sources.
Can recognise weaknesses and assumptions in their own working hypothesis.
Can organise evidence into a coherent written or multimedia investigation.
Can present and defend the methodology and conclusions of an investigation.
Social competences
After completing the course, the student:
Understands the ethical responsibility involved in publishing allegations about individuals and institutions.
Recognises the importance of independence, fairness, accuracy and transparency.
Is prepared to revise conclusions when evidence contradicts an initial hypothesis.
Understands the importance of protecting vulnerable sources.
Appreciates investigative journalism as a form of democratic accountability while recognising its limitations and potential for abuse.
Assessment criteria
1. Investigative case-study presentation — 20%
Students select a major investigative journalism project and give a short presentation analysing:
the original investigative question;
sources and evidence;
methodology;
obstacles faced by the journalists;
legal and ethical questions;
the narrative structure;
the investigation's impact and limitations.
2. Source and evidence analysis — 20%
Approx. 1,500 words
Students analyse a set of sources, documents or competing media accounts and assess:
reliability;
bias;
motivation;
corroboration;
evidential strength;
missing information;
alternative interpretations.
3. Final investigative project — 40%
Approx. 3,000 words or an agreed multimedia equivalent
Students design and execute a small investigative journalism project.
The final submission should demonstrate:
a clearly formulated investigative question;
original research;
multiple sources where appropriate;
verification;
awareness of legal and ethical issues;
critical reflection on limitations;
clear and effective journalistic writing.
4. Participation and short reading/research responses — 20%
Students are expected to participate actively in workshops and discussion and to complete short preparatory research and reading tasks during the semester.
Assessment criteria
Work will be assessed according to:
quality and originality of the investigative question;
quality and diversity of research;
reliability and verification of evidence;
critical assessment of sources;
awareness of alternative explanations;
legal and ethical awareness;
clarity of argument;
quality of journalistic writing;
ability to distinguish fact from interpretation;
intellectual independence and willingness to revise assumptions.
Bibliography
Indicative bibliography
Core reading
Davies, Nick. Flat Earth News. London: Chatto & Windus.
de Burgh, Hugo, ed. Investigative Journalism. Routledge.
Houston, Brant. The Investigative Reporter's Handbook. Bedford/St. Martin's.
Kovach, Bill and Tom Rosenstiel. The Elements of Journalism. Crown.
Hunter, Mark Lee et al. Story-Based Inquiry: A Manual for Investigative Journalists. UNESCO.
Randall, David. The Universal Journalist. Pluto Press.
Journalism, power and media
Herman, Edward S. and Noam Chomsky. Manufacturing Consent. Pantheon.
McCombs, Maxwell. Setting the Agenda: Mass Media and Public Opinion. Polity.
Entman, Robert M. “Framing: Toward Clarification of a Fractured Paradigm.” Journal of Communication.
Foucault, Michel. Selected writings on discourse, knowledge and power.
Lacan, Jacques. Selected passages on the mirror stage and méconnaissance / misrecognition.
Digital investigation and verification
Silverman, Craig, ed. Verification Handbook. European Journalism Centre.
Bellingcat. Selected guides and case studies in open-source investigation.
First Draft / verification resources and selected contemporary materials supplied during the course.
ase studies
Selected investigations from:
International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ);
OCCRP;
Bellingcat;
The Guardian;
The New York Times;
The Washington Post;
BBC;
Reuters;
Polish investigative media including Onet, Gazeta Wyborcza, TVN24 and other relevant outlets.
Additional contemporary readings will be supplied during the semester.